Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will consolidate its research and development (R&D) units in the country under the newly-launched Mahindra Research Valley, a top company official said.

The company has three R&D units in the country.

The Mahindra Research Valley, for which an investment of Rs 650 crore has been made so far, was formally inaugurated by former President A P J Abdul Kalam today.

The Mahindra Research Valley is located at the Mahindra City Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Singaperumal Koil in Chengalput, situated about 50 km from here.

"We will be relocating about 700 engineers working in our other R&D units and will also hire in the Research Valley," Mahindra and Mahindra, Automotive and Farm Equipment sector President, Pawan Goenka told reporters here.

The company's one of the successful models, the global Sports Utility Vehicle -- XUV500, was designed in the Mahindra Research Valley, Goenka said, adding currently there were about 1,500 engineers working in Research Valley.

"So far we have invested about Rs 650 crore and there are about 1,500 engineers working here. Very soon we will be ramping it up to 2,500 engineers...," he said.

With the launch of Mahindra Research Valley, he said they would "shut" all the other research and development centres in the country.